Beady Bits - 20 Fun Beading Tips

Looking to make beading more fun and less stressful? Try one or more of these tips!

1. Worried about spilling beads? Set up a surface that has low tips so you can avoid spilling them on the floor.

2. Use 3 or 4 feet of thread to prevent tangles.

3. Compliment your beautiful beaded jewelry by using clasps.

4. Stay away from "super" glues. Use a good jeweler's glue, like Hypo Cement.

5. Prevent tarnishing by rubbing car wax on a piece of silver, then allow it to dry and wax it off with a soft cloth.

6. Want to always have something in your tool collection to snap sharp wire ends? Invest in a small metal nail

file.

7. When you thread a needle, put on some chapstick. After licking the thread, you'll automatically coat the end and keep the tiny thread fibers from separating.

8. Using white-out, mark the beads of every other round. The marks you make will help you remember your place. Also, the white fluid will chip off after drying, so you won't have to worry about anything permanent!

9. Peyote-stitch graphs and brick-stitch graphs are the exact same thing.

10. If you make a mistake while sewing seed beads, look away and break the beads by inserting a large needle into the hole. Pick somewhere nearby that spot and start a new spot, weaving where you would like a new bead to be. Hide the threads that are left showing.